WASHINGTON -- Despite the blizzard and consumer concerns over the economy, new home sales shot up 4.2 percent in January. It was the second consecutive gain as mortgage rates dipped to a two-year low.

Overall, sales of single-family homes totaled 693,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up from 665,000 in December, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

Sales advanced in the Midwest, South and West, but they plunged 40.5 percent in the Northeast, which bore the brunt of the snowstorms. It was the steepest decline in nine years.

WELCH'S PAY

FAIRFIELD -- General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jack Welch received $10.6 million in salary, bonus and stock-appreciation rights last year, making him among the highest-paid CEOs in the nation.

Welch's salary rose 8.1 percent, to $2 million, from $1.85 million in 1994. His bonus soared 30 percent, to $3.25 million, from $2.5 million the year before, according to GE's annual proxy statement to shareholders.

In addition, Welch received $5.32 million from 150,000 stock-appreciation rights granted in 1988 and exercised last year.

TRADE COMPLAINT

The Clinton administration filed a complaint Monday with the World Trade Organization alleging that Canada unfairly discriminates against U.S. magazines. The case involves a steep tax imposed by Canada that is designed to block publication of a Canadian edition of Sports Illustrated.

Canada contends that to sustain its culture it must protect the nation's magazine industry from American media giants like Time-Warner, the publisher of Sports Illustrated. Washington counters that Ottawa has taken blatantly protectionist action.

Not if you look at the sign on the old overpass at Union Station in Hartford that appeared last week.

The trestle had carried an advertisement for Shawmut Bank's AM Fax for business owners. But now that Shawmut has merged with Fleet Bank, Shawmut's sign was peeled off, revealing an old CBT ad with a number to call: 1-800-CBT-LEND. If you call the number these days, though, you get a door and cabinet supplier in Lima, Ohio.

A closer look at a smaller sign on the overpass tells the whole story: ``Available.''

WHAT'S INSIDE?

On-line alliances

America Online announces alliances with AT&T Corp.'s new Internet service and the maker of the popular Internet browser software, Netscape Communications.